Al Tayer apartments unscathed by blaze

Miracles do happen, said an astonished Akash Dyes, as he surveyed his supposedly fire-ravaged apartment number 908 in Al Tayer building in Al Nahda area of Sharjah.

"Nothing has been touched by the fire -- not even paper files, the curtain or my pet cat, which we could not take with us when we evacuated as she went into hiding when the alarm was raised," said Dyes.

Residents and onlookers gathered outside the building saw one of the residents return from an inspection visit to his apartment with two parrots in separate cages.

North-facing apartments in the '8' and '9' series, such as 908, 909 or 1308 and 1309, have been worst affected by the blaze which started at about 2:15-2:30am on Saturday morning.

The building was safely evacuated, but no resident has yet been allowed to start living there pending police clearance as well reconnection of electricity and gas supply.

Residents were, however, allowed to go back to their apartments to view the fire damage on Sunday evening.

To avoid any instance of looting, the building management, police and civil defence asked the watchmen to identify residents who were escorted one by one to their apartments.

Apartments on the other sides of the building were relatively unscathed.

Speaking to Emirates 24|7, another tenant of one of the affected apartments said the damage from the outside looked so huge.

Nothing could have or should have survived that blaze.

The building is blackened on the outside, but surprisingly okay on the inside.

The spokesperson for the building management on Sunday told Emirates 24|7 that the building is "livable".

"Only the cladding [which is made up of plastic tiles and the rubber grouting] caught fire and burnt. It is alright on the inside.

“We do need to look at the gas pipes and locks and may have to replace some before supply is resumed... but it is not as bad as it appears on the outside."

However, tenants still do not know how long will it take them to go back to live again in the building.

They have already spent most of Saturday and all of Sunday outside their home - most with family and friends and a few at the tents set up in nearby Al Nahda Park.

"When we went in, we were able to salvage a few essential items. Now at least we can start going to office and send our children to school.

“We had left the building in our nightwear and had to rely on family and friends for shelter and help us buy stuff like toothbrush," said another resident.

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